As feedback to my previous private blogposting “My way to the web” I got the following questions from my friend Michael last night. He is 35 years old, classicist and is working as a lecturer at Leipzig University. He calls himself a “sporadic web user”. So here are his questions:
1) Where do you see the advantages of web 2.0 for your work?
Oh, there are many advantages! Summing it up you could say: in web 2.0 everybody can connect very easily and get into direct contact with each other (if you are online). And that way you can exchange information much faster.
Which means you can
- find clients
- raise awareness (for a client/product/yourself) effectively
- network and collaborate with people all over the globe
- quickly get and give advice
- learn a lot
On condition that you are using the available media in the right way. You can make a lot of mistakes there. Klaus Eck will publish a book about that in October btw.
2) I have a very common name. What would be your advice for me to get a better ranking position in the search engines?
Yes, I was surprised that googling <”Dr. Michael Schramm” + Altphilologe> lead to NO results at all! “Michael Schramm + Leipzig” got a top listing though. Only “Dr. Michael Schramm” leads to many namesakes, not to mention the search without the degree.
What would be my advice? Well, of course I cannot give you a complete consulting in two sentences here. But I could imagine that in your field it could be effective to get yourself known as a blogger. We would need to check first to which extent the blogsphere and use of social is developed media in classicism at all. And then make a concept on how you can present yourself in the best way and start to network.
It depends to have your name connected to the right keywords in order to allow search engines to “understand” you correctly. And the more visits your content gets, the more you climb in the ranking (explained in very short terms).
3) There is a lot of information but also a lot of trash (content without information) on the web. So many people publish thing s on the web (for example in blogs) and you ask yourself: who is going to read all that? Is there a possibility to find my way in that flood and to get access to these subjects that are of interest for me?
That’s another question that cannot be answered briefly. You need to know how to search. Same with knowing how to be found. That’s why SEO (search engine optimization) is such a big issue now.
Unfortunately there are a lot of really bad websites out there that look like they have been made for the delight of the webmaster instead of having the user in mind. And it’s the same with blogs.
Even if the applications for the web can be easily used by more and more people, there are a few basics you need to know and rules you should follow. That’s how the discussion about a “browsing license” came up here in Germany.
Social media are of great use to answer your questions “where can I find what?” You have your own word-of-mouth (or should I say: word-of-screen) there. Though this hasn’t spread to all areas of life over here yet. But I’m sure it will happen.
4) In your blog you said that many people in Germany think that web-friendship was superficial. Where, in your opinion, is the difference between friendship on the web and in real life – if there is one at all?
Someone who is not a web-savvy would expect me to reply something like: “virtual friendship is no real friendship”. But in fact it depends on my definition of friendship.
It also depends on the way you use the web (see reply to next question).
I have met quite a few people on the web, discovered connections and then “enhanced” these contacts to friendship by meeting these people in real life. By now I have more friends I got to know this way than others. And as most of the time we live in different parts of the world, the web also serves me to care for these friendships over the distance.
Getting to know someone on the web doesn’t work differently than in real life anyway: you get to know someone because you are interested in similar things.
For instance if you take people who like to play tennis. They get to know others who like tennis. Because they are active in circles that have to do with tennis. If your activities in such circles are physical or virtual doesn’t matter. You meet people who are interested in the same things as you, you have a common subject to begin your conversation with right from the start. And that’s how you find likeminded people.
[Note to my English readers: the following question was really hard to translate! The terms used in German might not be the 100% equivalent of the English ones but that's what they imply:]
5) Someone who made his first experiences with twitter said the three pillars of social web were “exhibitionism, voyeurism, amusement”. What would you reply to him?
All that sounds so superficial and negative. Perhaps this is the case for people who only use social media for fun.
As I said before: it all depends on HOW you use the web. Many people are not aware of the fact that it is counterproductive pretend to be someone else online. You should be honest, respectful and authentic in your online activities, no matter if they are private or business. (Also seen the fact that all your activities can be tracked back at you)
If you use the medium internet consciously and seriously I’d change the above mentioned terms into: presentation, interest, entertainment.
Presentation: It does matter how I present myself on the web. All my online activities contribute to the picture that people are able to get of me. I can and should actively take part in this (personal branding).
Interest: if I look for information about a subject or person on the web then it’s because I am interested in them. Which means that I want to be informed about related news as quickly as possible and that I am interested to have a look behind the scenes or get to know people more closely.
Entertainment: This term has a negative taste in Germany. But entertainment doesn’t automatically mean trash but it means that things should be presented in an interesting way. Who says that helpful information has to be presented in a boring way? Isn’t it much better to edit them in a way people will like to deal with them?
photo: Annette Schwindt
[...] going to translate I have translated this blog to English and posted it on my agency blog [...]
SEO is imperative. As I wrote earlier today being found for particular keywords is essential, especially if it’s important your story is heard. When, in this instance, a dog breeder can out rank a national organization in Google because they understand the web better, it raising interesting questions about the legitimacy of whose voice is heard.
I use the story here very consciously because I think the important thing about Social Media (including blogging) is that it is part of telling the ongoing story of who we are and what we do; social media means we get heard.
But the stakes can be upped at the turn of a google algorithm changes.